Hanging from my rear view mirror is two items. In the state of PA, hanging things from the rear view mirror is apparently illegal, but a minor infraction that I have chosen to commit for my own reasons. I figure if I get called on it, I will probably be answering to a much worse offense likely involving excessive velocity, and will be too busy kissing major butt of the police officer to even worry about it. If he calls me on it, I will play the stupid Buckeye immigrant and state that I am from out of state and I was never made aware of such an ordinance but I will immediately comply, yes sir, no sir, whatever you say sir, and so on. I once pondered doing the "right thing" and removing them, but both these items carry meaning to me and are more than just mere decorations. To remove them would be to remove an important reminder of the journey I have taken in life and an important symbol in my life.
According to "The Official Preppy Handbook", the only appropriate item that may be seen hanging on the rear view mirror of a truly preppy car is "nothing, ever." "The Official Preppy Handbook" was a popular book when I was in high school, meant to be the ultimate resource for all that was the prep culture. Of course, it was quite tongue in cheek. It was the first book that introduced the idea that preppy was more than just their clothes. It was the entire culture of the old money network in this nation that has built up over generations. The preppy style of clothing was all the rage at the time. Of course, few of us really knew what it meant to be a true "Prep" as it were. We just all lusted after Lacoste polo shirts and Lilly Pulitzer bags. My mother bought me this book which is where I learned the true meaning of preppy. For some reason, I always remembered this quote, along with quite a few others, but this one is the one relevant in this case.
I do not recall all of the cars that were listed as appropriate preppy cars, but I do remember that Volkswagen was listed, and as an Audi is the luxury line of Volkswagen, I will assume that it could count as a preppy car. (Not that an Audi is to any degree an expensive Volkswagen.) So I do have what would probably pass for a preppy car, save one element- the violation of the no rear view mirror decoration prohibition.
Not that I could be interpreted in any way shape or form as a preppy. I was raised on a steady diet of middle class fare- public school education, car vacations stuffed in the back of a two door Chevy Chevette, and boxed macaroni and cheese for dinner. I would occasionally be able to compel my parents into buying me an article of clothing from the designer du jour but for the most part, it was no name brands for me. At around age 15, I was told that I would be responsible to buy all of my own clothes so if I wanted expensive designer clothes, I had better be willing to beg, borrow or steal a lot to get the money for them myself.
I also knew that I was going to be going to college from as far back as I can remember. I also knew that I was going to be paying for it myself. I recall as a young child being told to save the checks I received as gifts on my birthday or holidays for my college fund. I grew up with a very steady reminder of how expensive college was but also how important it was to choose my major wisely, to study hard to get into a good school, etc. College was never not an option for me. I never questioned the idea and never really wanted to do anything else. I wrote in my school memories book about wanting to be a doctor in my early grades, quite scandalous for a girl in the early 1970's, actually. My choice of vocation changed through the years, but there was never any time when my favored choice did not involve a college education.
I remember one fateful day in the middle of August when my mother and I managed to pack up most of my belongings into the back of a Volkswagen (the non-preppy kind) Rabbit and drove me off to a 10' x 15' dorm room 180 miles away from home. I was 17 years old and very nervous but at the same time, indescibably excited. This was the start of the best five years of my life. I was immature, emotionally unstable, prone to depression and insecure, but what I learned there far exceeded the information in the textbooks I read. I entered college an insecure kid and came out an adult, still not fully grown, but much more ready to take on the world than when I came in.
Paying my way through college during the late 80's was not easy. The Reagan administration did not like the idea of independent students and it was extraordinarily hard to obtain financial aid. Majoring in chemistry was not exactly easy especially when part of my financial aid package included work study and there was simply no hours in the day to work a second job to bring in any more needed cash. Chemistry majors average four laboratory sessions a semester, each three hours long, but only accounting for one credit hour each so the typical 18 semester hour schedule that it took to graduate in four years was completely unmanageable. I was forced to take five years to graduate. I felt defeated and demoralized for making this choice, but in the long run, this allowed me to specialize in biochemistry, take more classes just for the sake of obtaining pure knowledge and do research for credit, exposing me to much more advanced learning than I would not have had otherwise. Not to mention lighten up the crushing schedule of work/study/sleep/repeat.
I had long given up on the idea of going to medical school years prior, being told that I was essentially not smart enough to get in. When I was in college, I started to question my naysayers. I took the blind leap of faith and went through the grueling process of applying for medical school. I was accepted at one school, not the best one, not my first choice, but I was accepted which is better than more than half of the applicants who try to get in.....
...And I chickened out. Medical schools are tough. You fail one class, you are kicked out of the school. No second chances, that is it. One chance only. The whole prospect terrified me. So at the last minute, I changed my mind and applied to graduate school to pursue my PhD in biochemistry. I love teaching, and loved the idea of being the eternal student via being a college professor. After spending 1 1/2 years doing this, I realized that college professors spend more time writing grant proposals and doing research than actually teaching. By that time, I had two roommates who were medical students at the same university as I and had convinced me thoroughly that, yes, I had the aptitude to get through medical school. I will admit that some of those discussions were held after one too many drinks at a hairy buffalo party, so were probably not that coherent, but they made their point. I left graduate school, worked as a lab tech for 1 1/2 years while trying to get into medical school and this time, got into my first choice. This time, I did not chicken out.
I was off to catch my dream.
To be continued...
No comments:
Post a Comment